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Arrgghh! IMPORTANT notice about Flight
Sim Drawing! The database collecting
name of those wishing to enter the contest has become corrupt, and my backup
was trashed during the restore! So as of 6:18pm, Chicago time on December
20, 2003...ALL NAMES entered to this point have been lost!
I'm VERY sorry and upset about this. But now I can only ask you all, who
have previously entered your name into this drawing to REENTER your name
again!
And yes...this also means that anyone with a custom URL at this point, will
mean it could point to the wrong name. So please stop using previously assigned
URLs!<sigh>
Because of this error, TechTrax will be extending the deadline for this drawing
until January 9th...to ensure that all those who previously entered...are
informed in the January issue and have the opportunity to reenter the drawing.
Again...I'm VERY sorry for this and have now learned that...during a drawing
I keep TWO backups!
We Have a Winner!
Sheesh! Took us long enough! David Siegel is our winner of Office 2003 Pro.
Read the details in our new
Office Winner article. Others could have
won, but they never responded!
And don't forget...enter our drawing this month and you could be our next
winner. This month we're giving away Microsoft Flight Sim 2004: A Century
of Flight!
We Hit the Mother Lode!
This has been an amazing month. Okay, I know I say that often, but
this time I'm referring to the number of new subscribers who found their way
to TechTrax during November. In a normal month, TechTrax averages 150 new subscribers.
When one of our writers is mentioned in some other publication and a link to
TechTrax is included, an additional couple hundred folks find their way here,
like what they see and decide to stick around by subscribing. However, this
month, more than ONE THOUSAND new subscribers signed up for this Ezine! And
I know that not everyone was interested in our current contest, because only
a small portion of people took the time to add their entry. At the end of October,
I was thrilled when we hit 3,000 subscribers. At the time of this writing, December
2, TechTrax now boasts over 4,000 monthly readers!
In fact, I was so blown away by the number of new subscribers flowing in, that
I was concerned some of the addresses might be bogus...just to fill up our contest
drawing. So I immediately made a few modifications to our subscriber database.
Now, not only do we have an new input box, so folks can tell us how they found
us, each new subscriber receives an automatic confirmation email that must be
replied to in order to confirm they exist as a legit address. Very few are unconfirmed!
So, to all of our new subscribers ...WELCOME! We do our best here to provide
you with entertaining and informative articles each month. And because we cover
such a wide user base, users at every level should find something of
interest each month. For those who are curious, our two most popular reasons
for subscribing are varieties of: "a friend recommended this site"
and "I was searching for help and found an article with the information
I needed in your magazine." Guess we're doing something right!<wink>
Many folks have told us already that they are amazed at the fact that, not
only does TechTrax contain extremely valuable information, but that it's free
and readers are not bombarded by advertising just to get this free information.
It's true. Our writers do this just because they enjoy helping others! So be
sure to check out our Author's
link above to read more about the folks who are giving their time to help
you become more technically savy. Visit their web sites and/or take a moment
to click the Feedback
button above and tell them, and us, what you think of TechTrax, or maybe
about an article that you found particularly helpful. We love to hear from you!
Even better, if you have a project and need to hire a temporary professional
to help you with your workload—be sure to keep our Consultants in mind.
Click the Consultant's
link on the top menu to see who is available to do side jobs and what type
of services in which they specialize.
And since we do have so many new readers this month, allow me to also remind
you that all previous issues of TechTrax are available to you with just a click.
Notice the Archive
button above. Click that and you can view any previous issue or search for
specific article subjects. Lots of valuable information up on that menu bar...so
kick off your shoes, relax and spend a little time snooping around. We don't
mind!
The Office 2003 Drawing
Okay, I know many of you are anxious to know who won our drawing and will soon
be using their new, free copy of Office 2003 Professional. And I wish
I could give you the name of our winner right now. The problem is...we don't
yet have one. That's right! As of this moment, the evening of December 2, a
winner has yet to reply and claim the prize! Sheesh...I can't even give
this stuff away. I spun the wheel and got a winner yesterday. But she did not
reply to the winning notice after 24 hours, so she lost her chance. I tried
again. I assumed I'd find a happy winner waiting in my email when I got home.
NOT! That person only has a few hours left. If they don't reply to my notice,
I'll have to try to go back and pick another email address in the morning. Tip:
when you enter a contest and the rules say you must reply within 24 hours of
such and such date to claim the prize...you might want to be fairly
vigilant about checking your email! With luck, you can come back here in the
next day or so and see the name of the winner, in place of this text. We'll
just keep pulling numbers until someone replies!
But if you don't win this month...don't be sad, because you'll get more chances.
As luck would have it, I attended a Microsoft Small Business partners training
seminar in November. There were two drawings held after the session. One was
from Hewlette Packard, who gave away a digital camera and photo printer. The
other was from Microsoft who gave away several copies of Office 2003 Small Business
edition. Would you believe I won BOTH drawings! Yup...I walked out of there
with a photo printer and a copy of Office 2003 Small Business Edition.
But it's really you who lucked out here. Because I'll be giving away
that Small Business Edition copy of Office 2003 to another lucky winner in February.
(Sorry...the printer is ALL MINE!<evil smirk>) Our January issue will
tell you how to shoot for another copy of Microsoft Office! And I still have
another Office keyboard in the ol' vault that needs a good home. So stay tuned!
What's Up This Month
As for December, we are giving away a copy of Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight to celebrate the 100 year anniversary
of the Wright Brothers and their adventures in Kitty Hawk. Make sure you read
that article this month so you know how to enter the drawing.
Also this month, we welcome a new writer...Ray
Blake has joined our TechTrax team. Ray also writes for Linda
Johnson's ABC
newsletter and is a member of her Office
Support group. Ray is a developer who specializes in Access, Excel and Visual
Basic. We're thrilled to have him join our team from across the pond. Welcome
Ray!
And Kevin
Christy is back on the scene with TechTrax. Kevin was one of our first volunteer
writers back when we started in May 2002. Soon after, he got busier with his
career and wasn't able to contribute as much. But he's back with a series of
articles discussing a cool Excel quoting system  he's
built and over the next few months, he'll show you how to build your own.
You may also notice that there's a somewhat new department this month. Actually,
Stacy
Chesney has fallen into a groove with her cool web site articles.
So we just did a little reorganizing and created a dedicated Cool Web Site department
so it's easier to find those articles. All her previous articles have been adjusted
so they'll show up in an archive search of that department.
The holiday season means many of our writers are busy with family commitments,
so you'll have to listen to a lot of me this month. But despite that...I
believe we have some terrific articles for you.
Enjoy and have a safe, fun and peaceful holiday season!
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